The next day, Grace and Carmen reconvened so they could discuss The Sword.

"Grace, now that your investigation's over, we must focus on finding the Chief's killer. I heard it was Jonah who warned us that The Sword had fled into the desert! I knew Jonah was a good guy!"

Grace hears a scoff behind her and turns just as Marina is strutting over.

"Jonah Karam is a psychopath! We shouldn't believe a word he says!" She accuses.

"Whoa! Marina, you really have it in for Jonah! If I didn't know you better, I'd think it's personal!"

"It's just a feeling, Carmen, but...my intuition's never wrong! I'm a psychologist, remember!"

"If you're worried about him, maybe we should do a background check." Grace suggested. Marina nods, seeming to be pleased with that.

"Well, if Grace's up for a background check on Jonah, I'm in! His last assignment was for SandOil's CEO, so the refinery's a good place to start."

"We should also check the plane site on the way, just in case."

"I agree, Grace, we should also investigate the plane wreck. Many people who cross the desert pass through that site...and one of them could be our elusive assassin, The Sword! Let's go, Grace!"

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"Grace, is that torn photo all you've got? How's that going to help us find The Sword?"

Grace gives Carmen a deadpan look. She didn't blame her for being annoyed. They had taken a detour from the oil refinery to go to the plane wreck only to find a ripped up photo. But ripped up photos didn't just happen and Grace was sure it was important to the investigation.

"Just trust me!"

"Sorry, Grace, you're right: complaining won't help, restoring the photo might! Let's do it, then!"

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"Huh."

"What? What is it?" Carmen asks, coming over as Grace holds up the photo.

"Grace, the photo you restored is a selfie of Benjamin! But why is Benjamin holding a sign that says 'Greetings from Mr. Sparkle's Theme Park'? He's not in any theme park, he's right here, by this plane wreck!"

"I don't know exactly...but I have a feeling that he's trying to disguise where he is."

"You think Benjamin's taken that selfie to lie about his whereabouts? But who's he trying to fool?"

"Well, we're right here, so we might as well ask the source himself."

"You're right, we'd better ask Benjamin about this!"

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"Benjamin, Detective Grace's found your selfie. With a message that says you're in a theme park...but on the picture, you're standing here, in the Sahara! Care to explain?"

"If I tell you the truth, Detective Grace, it's...confidential, right?" Carmen glances at Grace, indicating she should answer this question.

"I can't make any promises, especially since I don't know what it is I'm consenting to keeping a secret."

"My parents think the Sahara's too dangerous for a teenager. So I told them I was going to Florida. It was the only way they'd let me travel alone!"

"So that selfie was a lie to your parents?" Carmen asks. "I'm not sure how I feel about this, Benjamin."

"C'mon, you two were 17 once! If Dad finds out where I am, he'll have repatriated! Besides, I haven't done anything illegal! Why don't you study the nomads instead, they're more interesting than me!"

"Be careful with the nomads, Benjamin. Not all of them are friendly and some have been involved in murder." Carmen warns.

"Go chase them and leave me alone, then! Here, take this money too--it's not much use in the desert!" Benjamin says tersely, shoving some money into Grace hand before storming off.

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"Grace, I'm a little worried about Benjamin. I couldn't forgive myself if something happened to him."

"Yeah, me either. But it's not like we can do anything." Grace replies as she unlocks the jeep so they can get in to drive to the refinery.

"You're right. We can't arrest Benjamin for lying to his parents. And if we keep his secret, he'll know he can trust us if he gets in real trouble. It's more worrying that there's no trace of The Sword anywhere!"

Grace nods as she starts up the car.

"Oh! I just thought of something. We should go to the Najwa camp after we investigate the refinery again." Grace suggests, smiling proudly at her quick thinking.

"The Najwa camp? Good thinking, Grace, it's our last chance to investigate there! Let's go!"

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At the refinery, Grace finds a file cabinet with Donald Barnes' name on it and unlocks it easily.

"Smooth work opening Barnes' filing cabinet, Grace! Let's look inside."

"Um...not much of interest in here...oh! Except for this!" Grace holds up a blue USB stick labeled 'SandOil'.

"Nice! We should give it to Elliot and Gretta!"

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After investigating the Najwa camp and finding a scroll with some sort of black substance on it. After uncovering it, the message read 'Stay Unified, Defend Our Land' with the symbol of The Sword's organization at the bottom.

Carmen squints her eyes as she reads the message thoroughly before speaking.

"So, somebody's rallying the people of the Sahara to unite, in the name of The Sword! Grace, you're onto something huge here! Let's see if Lars can use the gray dust you vacuumed to tell us more about this!"

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After about 30 minutes, Carmen and Grace got some results.

"Grace, the dust you vacuumed up from the scroll in the Najwa camp is gunpowder!" Lars explains.

"Gunpower? I guess that's consistent with the message on the scroll, calling to arms." Carmen recalls. "But we need more, Lars! This clue is our link to The Sword--we must milk it for all it's worth!"

"Well...using the gunpowder's composition, I traced it through a chain of firearms dealers of dubious legality...until I found Izzah Farid!"

"Izzah?!" Grace asks, surprised. The woman was a grieving widow, she didn't give off the impression of being an arms dealer.

"Izzah Farid, the widow, is trading firearms under the sign of The Sword? Time to round her up!"

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Seeing as they had time to kill, the two agents went to Izzah with no time to waste.

"Izzah, bringing lunch to oil workers is one thing...supplying firearms to local tribes, inciting violence, is another! We could arrest you for this!"

The widow sneers at Carmen.

"Arresting me won't change history! Everywhere in the Sahara, people are uniting under the sign of freedom!"

"The sign of freedom?" Carmen repeats. "You mean The Sword? Izzah, tell us who's behind this mysterious insignia! Or we'll hand you over to local police!"

Izzah doesn't seem too bothered by Carmen's threat, just thoughtful.

"Nobody knows for sure. Some say it's a great leader, others say it's a god. What's important is that people are finally uniting to rebuild this land!" Her expression shifts as she starts to get emotional. "Here, detectives, take this costume as a sign of our goodwill. I'm just trying to help my homeland!"

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Finally, Carmen and Grace went to the tech room to discuss the USB stick with Gretta and Elliot.

"Grace, this USB key you've found among Barnes' files had job interview recordings on it. And one of the candidates is Jonah Karam! Watch this, Grace, and you'll never complain about my attitude again!"

"We'll see about that." Grace comments coolly as Gretta brings the laptop out and hits play on the recording.

It's Jonah and Barnes in some sort of conference room. The tape's title indicates it's an interview Barnes was making to look over bodyguard candidates.

"Mr. Karam, your resume's impressive, but I'm looking for the best bodyguard in the Sahara...and this file says you've missed a target once!"

"That only happened once, many years ago! I had...personal...reasons to miss that shot. None of your business." Jonah replies stiffly as Grace watches his body language. He shifts in his chair, keeping himself at a distance.

"So you missed a shot for dubious personal reasons, disregarding your client's interests?" Barnes is unimpressed, almost sticking his nose down at Jonah.

Jonah's jaw seems to tighten before he replies.

"Rest assured, Mr. Barnes, if I want someone dead, they're dead!" Barnes seems please with that.

"Thank you, Mr. Karam, we'll call you."

And the tape ends.

"You could probably cut the tension with a knife. It looked stifling and I wasn't even there." Gretta comments once the tape is over.

"Oh dear...not many candidates applied for this job, if they hired Jonah! But seriously, Grace: we already know Jonah's cocky...is that why Marina's so worked up about him?"

"I don't know. Bottom line? As much as I dislike the guy, he's been helpful before...maybe he'll help us again?" Grace suggests.

"You're right: Jonah tipped us off about The Sword, so our whole investigation into the Chief's murder hinged on his integrity! Alright...let's give Jonah a chance to reassure us!"

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Jonah was contacted and brought to an interrogation room.

"Detective Grace's watched your job interview footage. You admitted...missing a target, for personal reasons? What was that about?"

"What part of 'personal' do you not understand? It happened years ago, in Russia. I don't want to discuss it." Jonah replies stubbornly.

"Jonah. we have to trust you if we're to accept any help from you!"

"Feel free to find another informant then!" Jonah roars before storming off. Carmen is left speechless.

"Great, Grace: we've managed to alienate Jonah...he won't help us now! Or do you think this proves Marina right and we shouldn't trust him?"

"We should talk to her about it."

"Alright, Grace, let's grab a burger before we update Marina on this!"

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"So, what did Jonah say, besides bragging about the people he killed?"

"Trevor's discovered Jonah missed a shot once in Russia. But he refuses to say why."

"Did you say Russia?!" Marina's reaction surprised Grace.

"Yes. Why?" She asks.

"Oh no." Marina says suddenly, seeming to not hear Grace's question before she leaves her office.

"Marina!" Carmen calls out to her before she's gone. "Grace, Marina's run away! We must go after her!"

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Gretta was on her phone in the tech room when Marina walked.

"Oh hey, Marina." Gretta says casually, not looking up from her phone. When there's only silence, Gretta gets concerned and looks up at the profiler. "Marina...you okay?" Gretta asks, genuinely concerned now.

"Elliot, Gretta: I need you to to check the time Jonah was in Russia!"

"What? Why?" Elliot asks, confused.

"Just...do it! Please!" The two teens seem to sense Marina's desperation and did as she asked.

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"Marina!" Grace calls from the hallway before she and Carmen come into the room.

Gretta and Elliot had left by that point.

"What's going on, Marina?" Carmen asks.

"Grace...I have to tell you something. I was the target Jonah missed!" Grace's eyebrows rose up at Marina's confession.

"What?! Why would anyone hire a sniper to kill you?" Carmen asks, also shocked.

"It happened when I was a psychology student in Moscow. For an assignment, I had to develop interrogation techniques designed to make people confess. I...wasn't sure it'd work, but I tricked the Russian President into admitting a multi-billion dollar fraud. He had to step down as a result."

"Wow....that's impressive." Grace compliments.

"See this scar on my neck, Grace?" Marina asks the detective, pulling down her shirt. "It's from the bullet that nearly killed me after the president put a hit on me. Ever since I met Jonah, I've had a bad feeling about him. SO I asked Elliot and Gretta to check on some dates. What Grace's discovered is the final piece: it was Jonah who fired at me!"

"So...a corrupt Russian president hired Jonah to kill you?" Carmen asks. "But...Jonah missed the shot! And he won't say why--I bet he disobeyed the president's orders on purpose! It's just the thing he'd do!"

"Deicidng who should live and die, on a whim, is just the thing a psychopath would do!" Marina shouts at Carmen before turning to Grace. "I'll never trust him and neither should you!"

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Elliot is waiting for them in the hallway and looks very excited.

"Hey, Grace! I've heard this Benjamin guy's way cool! Ran away from home and fooled his parents with a selfie! Can I meet him?"

"Absolutely not! You'd be a terrible influence on each other." Carmen objects.

"And then you call me antisocial. Whatever!"

"Uh...you can't leave! I can't do all of this stuff by myself!" Gretta argues, coming over to the group.

"You could come with me!"

"Ha! No way, besides, mom would kill me!" Gretta argues, pointing to her mom.

"Please, you two! We have enough trouble on our hands! Grace's found proof that The Sword is a mysterious Saharan leader, calling people to defend their land. And Grace's discovered that our only informant, Jonah Karam once nearly killed our profiler." Carmen rolled her eyes after she listed of everything. "Great for morale! Things couldn't be bleaker, Grace! In times like this, I really miss the Chief!"

"Grace. have you seen the news?" Ingrid asks as she passes by her in the hallway. "They're reporting civil unrest in a town just outside the desert!"

"Civil unrest? Knowing what Grace's just discovered, where there's conflict, The Sword won't be far away!" Ingrid looked shocked by this news before turning to Grace with an irate expression.

"What are you waiting for then, Grace? Go and catch The Sword!"

Author's Notes

I had a scene in here with Gretta and Elliot sharing a moment and Gretta talked about how Benjamin could've faked the photo...until I realized I based that moment on a fanfic I saw on A03 and not the actual game XD

I don't have much to say about the case. I already shared a lot of thoughts in the other chapter--this feels like it went by pretty quick.

It is pretty ironic what Marina says about Jonah considering they later come a couple and he joins the Bureau.

Next chapter is going to be a filler chapter for Gretta and Elliot (again) so you're welcome lol

BatgirlGeek❤️